The invention relates to a splicing device for light wave guides upon employment of splicing elements with the guidance of the light wave guide ends to be connected in centering grooves and upon employment of mounting devices which are arranged at both sides of the splicing element and accept the ends of the light wave guides to be connected to one another and support them in acute angles to the base of the splicing element, whereby the introduction of the light wave guide ends into the splicing element ensues as a result of a relative movement between the mounting device and the splicing element so that the two ends of the individual light wave guides are moved towards one another in the centering groove of the splicing element and are brought into mutual contact and are fixed.
Because of the small diameter of individual light wave guides it is very difficult and, under certain circumstances, very expensive to produce a junction of light wave guides without axial offset and without angular deviation. Therefore, various ways have been pursued in order to arrive at a satisfying result. One such way led to the use of channel-shaped grooves for the centering and alignment of the individual light wave guides. Such an arrangement is described in the Canadian Pat. No. 969,744. A further example of a splicing element for individual light wave guides is known from the U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,702, in which the splicing element for the acceptance of the individual light wave guides to be connected is formed of surfaces inclined in acute angles towards one another and forming a centering longitudinal groove. A process for joining two high frequency guides is known from the U.S. Pat. No. 3,768,146, according to which a sleeve in which the guides lie abutting bluntly is pressed into a groove and, thereby, is pressed onto the guides. The guides lying in the sleeve are thereby aligned and connected with one another. The groove is preferably of a V-shaped form.
A connecting arrangement for joining individual light wave guides in prismatic guidance grooves is described in the German Pat. No. 2,525,132. The connection arrangement essentially consists of a guidance element exhibiting a groove and of a cap covering the guidance element or, respectively, the groove. The guidance element exhibits a groove with parallel side walls proceeding in the direction of the longitudinal axis, with introducing bevels expanding wedge-shaped and with a wedge-shaped groove bottom and is enclosed by the two lateral sides of a cap covering the groove; the third, middle side of the cap has a projection extending almost to the bottom of the groove and suitable for centering and fixing the inserted individual light wave guide.
Particular difficulties ensue in the support of the sheathings of the light wave guides, since these are usually arranged loosely within the sheathings. Particular measures must be taken for the bridging of tensile forces and compression which influence the sheathings and which must be kept away from the connection location of the light wave guides. In connection arrangements in which the light wave guides are first held in an obtuse angle to one another via the splicing element and are brought into contact with one another by lifting the splicing element, the sheathings are also cemented to the splicing element. In that manner, as is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,047,283, for example, a non-extended connection of the light wave guides was created.